Forever
by Emperor Itaelia
Summary: The idea of a break-up never once worried our favorite rag doll. But after an encounter with the trick-or-treating trio, that worry rises to her mind... Jally. Title change: originally "Forever By My Doll's Side".
1. Needles and Pins

**Disclaimer: I do not own TNBC, nor did I make the song that inspired this.**

It was December twenty-fourth, exactly one day until Christmas. The only reason she knew this was because of Jack's recent purchase, which he had ran out with a burst of impossible enthusiasm to buy. It both amazed and amused her, these random spurts of zeal over the simplest things. This time, the victim of that quality of him was simply a calendar, but he wasted no time in immediately writing down all the other six holidays on their given days. She never teased him or thought him silly for that, it was something she liked about him. He had the personality of a child, but, at the same time, was a respected king. None of the children in town were quite as spirited as he was, though, which puzzled her.

"Jack?" She asked in a whisper, wandering through the halls of Jack's house, peeking in rooms with open doors in her search for him, holding her left arm in her right hand. It had become detached while she was sleeping, but it didn't bother her. She was used to some stitches coming undone every once in a while. Poking her head into the study, she spotted him wiping an old formula of Christmas off of his chalkboard. She crept into the room, but he turned around almost instantly. She should've known she couldn't scare the Pumpkin King.

"Sally!" He cheered, sprinting over to her in a mere three steps. He paused when he reached her, "Your hair is in a ponytail," He noted. Sally shrugged.

"I just felt like something different," Sally said, "Do you like it?"

"It _is _something different," He nodded, "I'll give you that."

"Jack, I'm heading out. I'm out of thread," She held up her arm, which waved at him, causing him to chuckle.

"My dear Sally, you have most splendid timing. I was, in fact, thinking I could use a new suit. It gets old wearing the same suit every day, but I could not for the life of me decide on a design. Could you, please, improvise something for me?"

"Of course, Jack. When do you want it done?"

"Oh, Sally, I give you no deadline!" He threw his hands into the air for exaggeration, "The best things take the most time, after all." She nodded, taking a satchel of souls he handed to her. Nearer the very beginning of their relationship, she would refuse to spend _his _money on such small things, but when Jack's mind was made up, there was no changing it, and it always resulted in pointless arguing. So, she now took it with no complaints, but always made sure not to spend all of it.

Walking back down to the main room, Sally pushed open the tall door to be greeted by a soft breeze. She shivered momentarily – it was always so warm in Jack's house, but the warmth difference was unsettling – before adjusting to the temperature. She pulled a shawl that was lined with silver tassels over her shoulders. Jack had made it for her a few months back, and, although it was clear that sewing wasn't his specialty – judging by the crude stitching – it had become her favorite piece of clothing. She descended down the stone stairs to the gate, which had a jack-o-lantern weaved into the bars. Not many citizens noticed this fact, but she liked it. She pushed it open with a loud creak, and walked through. She didn't stop at the Town Square, but instead continued on to a separate part of the town. That section was a small cul-de-sac, which contained the Witches' Shop, a small shop for miscellaneous items, and a gate that she had no idea where it led. The gate was more like a door to a safe than an actual gate. She headed to the small shop, and was glad to see that the door was already open. She hadn't actually thought to check the time when she left, so it was sheer luck that the shop was open.

Not too long after, Sally exited the shop, walking back to the center of the town with a plain tote bag over her shoulder. She had bought it to hold everything else she bought: a roll of fabric to keep her occupied, two spools of thread, and a small set of needles. The satchel was still in her hand, and she peeked inside. To her surprise, she had only spent about half of the souls. She put the satchel in the tote bag as she reached the center of the town, setting it down next to the fountain. She took her detached arm out of it, followed by a spool of baby blue thread and a needle. Pulling up her sleeve to expose the shoulder, she worked quickly, her arm being sewn firmly back into place within a matter of seconds. She examined the stitches a minute longer, deciding that she preferred this thread to her current, gray stitches. It contrasted with her skin quite nicely, while still managing to stand out. Sally let the fabric fall back over the stitches, and sat down at the fountain, watching the emerald water trickle out it.

A dove with a skeletal wing, and with half of its face muscles and bones exposed as well, landed next to her on the tiles. It looked up at her with a beady, bloodshot eye, before taking a needy drink of the water. Sally watched it drink, briefly stroking its beautiful ivory feathers. She pulled her hand away to look at it a moment longer, and jumped as a tiny, gloved hand grabbed the zombie bird by the neck, pulling it off the tile. She looked up to see Boogie's ex-henchmen standing in front of her. Shock's hand was clamped tightly around the bird's neck while it let out strangled shrieks, thrashing desperately.

"Leave it alone. It hasn't done anything to you," Sally said, surprising even herself with her confident tone. The girl raised an eyebrow at her.

"What's so important 'bout it?" Shock retaliated, ignoring the bird snapping at her fingers. "It's just a bird," the witch tightened her grip on its throat, and Sally winced, hearing an almost inaudible, but sickening, crack. The bird was quick to fly away when Shock opened her hand in mercy, but it flew with a noticeable limp.

"What are you three doing in town?" Sally asked, unsure of how to respond, and slightly disturbed by the previous actions.

"We got bored," Barrel answered simply, kicking a small stone at Lock, who glared at him as it hit his tail, receiving an innocent grin from his friend.

"So what else to do than go around _bugging_ people?" Lock laughed at his own joke. Shock ignored the two boys.

"You know it won't last, right?" She asked the rag doll out of the blue, cocking her head a bit. She didn't look at Sally, however, instead busying herself with plucking feathers off of her glove.

"Excuse me?" Sally asked quietly. She could almost feel her confidence from earlier draining quickly from her.

"The whole... _love_ thing between you and Jack," Shock scrunched her nose at the word, saying it with the tone of someone forced to say a dirty word. Sally blinked.

"I'm afraid I don't understand..."

"You're so dense! Why do you think your relationship will work out? Do you see any other couples in Halloween Town? No," Sally said nothing. This only infuriated the girl further. "I bet that three years from now, you'll be back in Dr. F's lab, trying to poison him to get out, while we're all going on with what we used to do, not even sparing you a glance. Face it, Sal', he's gonna leave you sooner or later. Your relationship will soon be history!"

Sally was nearly shaking. She wasn't used to being concentrated on; it was uncomfortable. She tried to ignore her, but the words stung, nonetheless. That worry had never struck her before. She calmly took out the fabric and cut a square off, hoping to distract herself with the needlework. But it was difficult with Shock hovering over her like a vulture, determined to get a stronger reaction out of her. She wasn't sure what the girl had against her today; she usually left Sally alone, even on a bad day. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lock and Barrel shoot each other an exasperated look. Only a minute or two passed, but it seemed like eternity to her. Finally, Lock lost his patience and – almost literally – dragged Shock away, helped partially by Barrel. But not before a small, glassy tear slid down Sally's cheek. Shock wouldn't have been dragged away so easily while she was bullying some one unless she was satisfied with their reaction. And, judging by the smirk on her face, she knew she had made the rag doll cry.

Sally tilted her head down, letting the ponytail out, her long hair cascading in front of her face to hide the crystal tears.

* * *

"No, Zero, don't chew on that!" Jack begged the ghostly dog. Zero dropped the old doll, which Jack had long ago obtained from Christmas Town, and curled up in his dog bed. The Pumpkin King stood straight up, looking around his study with satisfaction. The only traces of his Christmas misadventure that remained were the formula on the chalkboard, and several ornaments scattered on his bookcase. The rest were in small boxes in the corner. His satisfaction was cut short, however, as he heard the door of his home open abruptly, and shut with a force just as suddenly. The skeleton immediately recognized the soft but hasty steps belonging to his rag doll love, but the hastiness in her steps alarmed him.

"Sally?" Jack asked to no one in particular, before following the sound.

* * *

Sally sunk into the over-stuffed mattress on the bed in her bedroom. The room had once been a guest room, until she moved in with Jack. But she had other matters on her mind, and wished very little to remember that day. She buried half of her face in the pillow, sniffling. Beads of tears soaked the pillow slowly as she lay there, on her side, staring at the picture of her and Jack that was on her nightstand.

The rag doll had heard others complain about how horrid Boogie's Boys were, but she had never met them face-to-face before. She had seen them wandering town before, but never spoke with them. They had ignored her until now. She felt silly, letting the young witch get to her like that. Sally hadn't thought that they were that cruel, and perhaps they were in a bad mood, but it didn't help to dilute the sting left behind from her words.

Maybe this was all just a bad dream. Yes, it must be her mind playing on her fears. The doll stared at the newly bought tote bag, which was hanging on the wall opposite her, at eye level. She closed her large, round eyes, and pinched her arm with all her might until she felt a small sting. She kept her eyes closed for a moment. When she opened them, the bag would be gone. Warily, she opened her eyes.

She frowned. It was still there. She turned over onto her back. This was ridiculous. _Calm down, Sally, _she thought to herself, _you're overreacting. _She casually glanced at her doorway, and nearly jumped straight out of her skin, seeing Jack leaning against the doorframe, watching her. Sally sat up.

"What's happened?" The boney Pumpkin King asked, entering the room to sit on the bed next to her.

"Nothing," She replied as calmly as she could. Jack gave her a look that plainly said: _I know you're hiding something._ The rag doll transferred her gaze from his eye sockets to her hands. What was she supposed to say?

"You can trust me," He said firmly.

"I ran into Lock, Shock, and Barrel while I was out," The words slipped from her mouth before she could stop them. Jack's expression hardened.

"What did they do?"

"...Jack, do you think our relationship will end?" She asked slowly. She couldn't bring herself to tell him what happened flat out.

"Not at all, why would you say that?"

"Shock said you'll leave me soon." The edges of her eyes prickled unpleasantly. She felt his long hands fold over her clasped hands.

"Sally, I would never leave you," He whispered, "I promised you forever, and a Skellington always keeps his promises."

The edges of her eyes prickled again, but this time, the sensation was accompanied by a smile spreading across her face. A cold finger tilted her small chin up, and their eyes met. Or, rather, her eyes and his eye sockets met. They shared a small, delicate kiss.

"I'm sorry, Jack," She said quietly, not wanting to disturb the atmosphere, "I was a fool to believe that." He waved her apology off with a bat of his hand.

"We all make mistakes, there's nothing for you to apologize for," Jack assured with a smile, "but Shock on the other hand..."

"Jack!" She giggled.

"What?" He asked, "I was serious." He gave her a last comforting embrace. "Will you be alright, now?"

She nodded, her spirits raised.

He stood up. "Well, then, I believe I have some business to attend to." Without giving her time to protest, he left the room in one swift step, and the tails of his pin striped coat whipped out of sight.

**A/N: This story was inspired by the song "Who Knew?" by P!nk. And, also, by my need to practice characters. I might add a second chapter, between Jack and Shock, but I'll wait to see what you guys think.**

**~Inferno Shock**


	2. Lessons to Be Learned

The unusually tall skeleton strolled through the town with a sharp eye. _If I were a Boogie's Boy – er, girl – where would I be? _He thought. Before he even had a chance to consider possible areas, a large and black blur spun out of control in front of him, screeching awfully, before smashing nose-first into the side of the brick wall with a loud bang. Jack blinked in surprise. It was the Mayor's hearse. The two-faced politician tumbled clumsily out of the door, frowning. For once, he did not notice the Pumpkin King, and just watched sorrowfully as a cloud of strange, emerald smoke rose over the car. Jack sprinted over to him.

"What happened here?" Jack asked, pointing a boney finger at the hearse, which was partially on its side; two wheels were raised several inches off the ground. If not for the wall, it would be clean on its side. A few monsters were poking their curious heads out their windows, alarmed by the resounding crash, before returning to their business. The Mayor sighed, burying his head in his hands for a mere moment.

"Those little brats – "

"Lock, Shock, and Barrel?"

"Yes! They hijacked my hearse, and it spun out of my control! And it isn't the only thing out of control! Those three – I-it's getting ridiculous! I thought they'd stop, what with Boogie gone! But all they've done is gotten worse!"

The Mayor rambled on like that for quite a while before Jack politely interrupted him.

"Mayor, why don't you head home and... Work on the plans for next Halloween? I'm on my way to have a chat with Lock, Shock, and Barrel right now, and – " Jack started.

"You are? Are you going to punish them? Because if they're not stopped, this will just get worse! They might kill someone!" The Mayor resumed his emotional breakdown.

"They won't kill anyone. Everyone's already dead. Calm down, Mayor, I have it covered," Jack assured, strolling away before the Mayor found something else to complain about, leaving him in dry sobs. Jack sighed. It seemed that there was never a time for the poor skeleton when there wasn't any problems he had to deal with. At least his problems were coming from just one source, for once. _Now, then,_ He thought, _where would our little pranksters be right now? Wait... if that shenanigan was because of them, then they're still in town. _He stopped and glanced around town. No sight of them. _They can never make it easy on me..._

"Jack, Jack!" A voice cried from behind him. Jack cringed. _Now what?_ He spun around, and his tension ceased as he spotted the spring of the voice. It was just Sally, running – slightly off-balance – on her tiny feet towards him. When she did, she adjusted her shawl, which had been blown out of place. "Let me come with you," She said breathlessly.

"Why?" He asked, befuddled, and sounding a bit ruder than he meant to, but his rag doll ignored it. She paused, clearly unsure why she actually wanted to come with him in the first place.

"I don't know..." Sally said slowly, "Just to... help you out, I guess." Jack shrugged.

"Well, you've helped me out many times before, even if I didn't notice," She blushed violet at that, "Sure, you can come."

They walked for what seemed hours, before they finally spotted the little pranksters on the awning of the Doctor's tower door, carrying a large cauldron between them. It was quite an odd sight, as the cauldron was nearly as big as them. And that was saying something; all three of them were tall for their age, although Barrel was probably on the average line, being the shortest. Jack stopped a few feet short of where the tower was, and Sally was quick to follow his lead. The skeleton crossed his spidery arms over his ribcage, staring at the trick-or-treaters. Boogie's Boys, on the other hand, seemed not to notice, mumbling incoherently to one another and trying to position the cauldron just right on the gutter. Jack got impatient and cleared his throat loudly. The trio of children jumped and looked around at him. Lock and Shock nearly lost their balance, and Barrel, who was between them, _did _loose his balance, and fell headfirst into the cauldron, kicking up a small wave of bubbling, thick, cyan-colored liquid. The sudden force threw the cauldron out of their hands, and Jack managed to catch it before it hit the ground, gently putting it on the ground as the youngest of the three popped his head out of it, his entire body coated in pink slime. He heaved himself out of the cauldron as his friends sat down at the edge of the awning.

"Hi, Jack!" Lock called, waving to him with his plunger.

"Hi, Lock. Could you both come down?" Jack asked calmly. The two kids glanced at each other.

"Why? It's comfy up here," Shock said, leaning back with her gloved hands behind her head, as if to prove her point. Lock grinned in agreement after removing his mask, swinging his legs off the edge, keeping his tail out of the way so it didn't get kicked.

"Now, Shock," Jack commanded, a little harsher. She shared a look with Lock again, before they both stood up and leapt smoothly down onto their feet in unison. She smoothed out the creases in her dress, before taking her mask off in her palm, crossing her arms irritably.

"What?" She snapped as Barrel scurried to her other side, trying to wipe the slime off of his mask.

"What have you three been up to lately?" The Pumpkin King asked lamely. He hadn't thought of how to start this conversation before, or how he was going to punish her... or, rather, all three of them, given the Mayor's car crash. He shook the thought off, however.

"You know, the usual," She replied casually.

"Bugging people," Lock added.

"Turning their hair pink," Barrel pouted, now attempting to get the globs of slime out of his slick, green hair. Lock giggled at that, watching him.

"Would that include hijacking the Mayor's hearse and hurting poor Sally's feelings, by any chance?" Jack asked, raising a would-be eyebrow. Sally flushed and took a step back. She hated being in the spotlight.

"Who?" Lock asked.

"Us?" Shock continued, putting on her innocent little girl act that she was so good at. She looked to Barrel, who was _supposed to _finish, but he was too busy looking through a cracked wedge of a mirror, trying to fix his hair, to notice. For this he earned a sharp kick in the shin, and he turned to her, glaring daggers at her and holding his leg.

"Ow! What was that for?" He whined. Jack sighed. This was getting nowhere... Instead of what he would usually result to in order to get their attention (making a face and screaming), he marched right up to Shock and knelt down so that he was at her level. Probably distracted by his new tactic, she turned to stare into his eye sockets, keeping a steady scowl on her face. The little witch crossed her arms once again.

"Apologize to Sally," Jack commanded, his voice calm but firm.

"What if I don't?" Shock sneered back, completely dropping the act now. An idea struck him.

"You have two choices," He held up a single boney finger, "One, you could apologize to her right here and now, and be off the hook for now, or two," He held up a second finger, "apologize to her _and_ the Mayor in front of the entire town with a megaphone." An odd expression flashed over her eyes, but it was gone as quickly as it had come, giving him no time to further inspect. Her eyes narrowed dangerously, as if she was trying to burn right through him.

"You wouldn't dare," She growled through gritted teeth. He smiled.

"Oh, I wouldn't, would I?" He asked, "Look, there's the Mayor – " Her head snapped in the direction he pointed, " – I could ask him to call a town meeting right now," She bit her lip, and it now became clear that she didn't like that idea at all, "So, what's it going to be, Shock?"

"I – fine. Fine!" She exclaimed, cracking under the pressure. Jack smiled. _Victory! _He thought.

"Well?" He pressed on. She frowned, and – with what seemed like a very forced movement – she turned to the rag doll, who was quietly lurking where Jack had previously been.

"...Sorry, Sal'," She muttered in a strange robotic tone. Her face was bright red, either from her anger boiling in her blood, or her intense embarrassment. Or maybe, a mixture of both. Sally smiled nervously and nodded as the girl pulled her mask back on. Jack's skull cracked into a large grin, as if Shock had apologized whole-heartedly.

"Wonderful! Now, run along you three," He encouraged. The words had barely left his mouth when Shock bolted, running at full-speed, back to the tree house. The boys shared a look (Barrel was now slime-free, as Lock had finally caved in and helped), before taking off after her. Jack stood back up to his full height, dusting his tailcoat off. He chuckled, "I didn't mean so literally," He joked to Sally, who smiled fully now. He hooked a spindly arm around her waist.

"Shall we?" His rag doll giggled. The skeleton nodded, somewhat over-enthusiastically, and they set off, back to the Skellington manor.

"Jack?" Sally asked suddenly, cutting through the silence like a knife. They were back at home now, in the kitchen, and Sally – true to her word – was sewing a new suit for him out of nice black and silver velvets. For big projects like this, she would use her sewing machine, but right now she was only at the pinning stage. Otherwise, she would be in the main room, where her sewing machine was. Jack, who had been reading a book, leaning against the marble counter, looked over to the dining table where she was seated.

"Yes, love?" He answered.

"You didn't have to embarrass her so much just for me, you know," She said quietly. He put the book down and took a seat next to her, watching her stick the pins into the fabrics.

"Well, it was the only thing I could think of. And it worked, did it not?" He rested his head on her tiny shoulder.

"Well, yes, but still. Nobody likes to be embarrassed in front of their best friends," Sally said, taking out a pin and putting it back in a better position. He shrugged.

"Ah, but if you get embarrassed, it will teach you to at least think twice about doing it again. The Mayor was right, in a way. They will only learn from their mistakes and punishments. I don't like resorting to that, but they won't learn if they don't know that we won't tolerate certain things," He attempted to explain. She giggled, jolting his chin rest a bit.

"Always a man of words," She noted. He grinned sheepishly, "No offense, darling, but it's really hard to work with you leaning on my shoulder."

"None taken," Jack replied, standing up and stretching his lean limbs. He patted her back, "I'll leave you to it," He left for his study.

A few moments of solitude passed by, and Sally stood up, holding the fabric up, before nodding to herself. It was different enough from his usual attire, without being shockingly so. It would look nice on him. _Fit for a king. _She thought humorously. She headed to the main room, and positioned an edge of the fabric under the needle. Right as she put her hand on the balance wheel to make a knot, laughter echoed down to her from upstairs. Distracted, she looked up to see Jack stumbling down the stairs, still laughing. She stared, and he finally stopped laughing long enough to speak to her.

"Sally, you know how I was wiping off my old Christmas formula when you woke up?" He asked, still grinning from ear to ear – well, that is, if he had any. She nodded. "Well... I only half wiped it off!" With that, he burst into laughter again. She blinked her large eyes, and he motioned for her to follow him. She got up and followed him up the winding staircase, into his study.

Sure enough, there, on the chalkboard, only half of the writing remained. She couldn't help but laugh at his silliness herself.


	3. Playing With Fire

"Are you sure you can carry all that?" Jack asked, looking up from his memo pad, the fountain pen poised, mid-stroke, in his spidery hand.

"Oh, yes," Sally replied, although her voice had a distracted tone to it. She was stumbling from the sitting room to the kitchen, carrying two over-stuffed bags in her arms. It was a miracle that she could see where she was going; the bags were rather bulky. Jack could've handled them with ease, but she had insisted on doing it by herself. As she took another step, one of her tiny feet slipped on the tiled floor, and she wobbled dangerously before recomposing herself.

"Are you quite sure?" He asked warily, watching her stumble.

"I'm fine, Jack," She said, heaving the bags onto the granite counter, "I've handled much more than carrying a few bags before."

He could see no point in arguing, and he knew she was right, so he simply shrugged. In his mind, he dreaded her falling and the contents of the bags and leaves flying over the spotless kitchen floor, but he pushed it out of his mind.

Two days had passed since the "incident", as he called it in his mind, and, for the most part, everything was calm. Lock, Shock, and Barrel had not been causing trouble lately for once, although they were occasionally glimpsed riding around town in their bathtub. As an added bonus, Jack had succeeded in escaping the Mayor's frantic clutches numerous times. This was unlike him, because he usually listened politely when he ran into the bi-polar politician, and made no attempt to escape. These moments were important to the Mayor, but Jack had had too much on his hands lately, even though his archenemy was long gone. He also felt that he needed to spend more time with Sally lately, as she had still been a little shaky from the encounter. She had returned to her normal, cheerful self (much to his relief), but that only subsided the feeling vaguely.

Putting the memo pad back in its rightful place, Jack turned to find Sally hastily putting various jars and boxes into the cupboards. She was finished within minutes, which was no surprise to him; she could get things done remarkably fast, he had learned. He strode up behind her as she closed the cupboards, and wrapped his long arms loosely around her waist. Sally leaned her head back to rest on his ribcage, the tips of her wispy red hair tickling his boney hands. He pulled his arms away when she shifted her position, and she immediately made a beeline over to her sewing machine and the neatly folded pile of velvet and pins that laid next to it.

"Are you going to sew outside again?" He asked.

"Yes," She replied, hoisting the fabric into her arms. She paused, glanced at the sewing machine, and then put the fabric back down, "Do you have a collapsible table or something that I could put out? Putting the sewing machine next to me on the bench doesn't work so well."

"A collapsible table?" Jack repeated, digging through his mind, "Actually, I think I have one down in the cellar. Wait here, I'll go look." With that, he crept down a short flight of stairs into the basement, disappearing into the darkness. After a moment, there was a faint crash, and Jack ascended the stairs, the folding table tucked under a spindly arm.

"What was that?" She asked as she took the table from him.

"What? The crash?" He asked, "Oh, the table knocked into a wine glass on the way up," Sally didn't like the idea of broken glass on the floor in the dark, and Jack had apparently noticed, for he added quickly, "I'll go down with a lamp later and clean it up."

The duo advanced outside and into the center of the town, which was temporarily deserted. Jack helped Sally set up her workstation in front of an iron bench that sat in front of one of the stonewalls. He didn't have a portable chair, unfortunately, so she had to seat herself on the bench instead.

"Don't work too much, okay?" He asked her after everything was set up, "You're working too hard on this. It's just a suit, don't exert yourself."

"Jack, I'll be fine," She assured him firmly.

"All right, all right," Jack said, taking a seat next to her. Not too long after, however, he froze, his eye sockets widening, clearly having had seen something. She opened her mouth to ask him what was wrong, but at that very second, he dived behind the fountain. Sally stared. The move had been so comical that she didn't know what to think. Looking around for the source of the distraction, her mud-colored eyes landed on the Mayor, who was waddling towards her, smiling widely.

"Good morning, Sally," He greeted cheerfully. His arms were completely full of graph paper rolled up, and loose-leaf notebook paper covered in notes. She suddenly understood why her skeleton love had hidden.

"Hello, Mayor," Sally replied calmly.

"Have you seen Jack around?" He asked, "I wrote up some absolutely horrible ideas, and he must see them!"

"No, I haven't," She said quickly, her eyes darting to the fountain. Unfortunately, the Mayor saw this, and turned to the fountain.

"Jack! There you are!" He shrieked, "We need to go over the plans! ...Why are you down there?"

"Oh, I... uh... dropped something," The Pumpkin King said, straightening back up to his full height. He shot Sally an exasperated look, to which she giggled, as the enthused Mayor dragged him off, who was chatting animatedly.

Now alone, Sally turned on her sewing machine and began stitching her boyfriend's new suit. Jack had not seen it yet, nor the sketch Sally had scribbled out of it. She had offered to show him, but he insisted on being surprised. It was almost finished; she just had to sew on the sections of silver velvet that she had pinned to the collar and the underside of his coattails. She had chosen sliver to match the fine, silver pinstripes she had sewn into the black fabric before hand. It was similar to his current suit, but she hoped it was different enough for his liking.

Within a few minutes, Jack's absence had left her a little lonely, but she just kept stitching. She wasn't about to barge in and demand that Jack spend time with her, but it would have been nice.

By the late afternoon, Jack still hadn't returned. Dusk was falling slowly. Sally decided that he must have gone back to the house after talking with the Mayor.

"I'll just finish this stitch line, and then I'll stop," She muttered to herself. She only had two coattails left to finish, and then the suit would be done, but she'd rather finish the one she was working on and do the other one in the morning.

"Hiya, Sally," A voice right next to her elbow piped up suddenly. She jumped and looked around. Barrel had somehow managed to come over without alerting her to his presence, and was rocking back and forth on his bare heels with his hands clasped together behind his back. His slicked-back hair curled slightly at the nape of his neck, and his golden eyes stared intently at her. Whether he was up to something or not, she couldn't tell.

"Oh, hello, Barrel," Sally greeted calmly. He gave a brisk nod to acknowledge her greeting, and shifted his focus to the steadily stitching needle. She watched him for a second, but he was the picture of innocence, so the rag doll maiden glanced around, expecting to find his friends not too far away. But the witch and devil were nowhere to be found. She gave a small shrug, adjusted the balance wheel, and continued stitching. It soon proved easier than she had first thought to ignore him, even with the constant movement; in fact, she hardly noticed him, 'though she knew he was there. A few seconds passed, and all that changed was Barrel's position. He had stopped rocking, and was now licking his black candy lollipop.

"Whatcha doing, Sal?" Another voice appeared over her shoulder. Sally jumped, and turned once more. Shock had appeared, as if out of thin air, and was sitting on the top of the bench, resting her chin in her gloved palm. The young witch, in contrast to Barrel, had an expression of mild boredom on her face, her mask resting in her lap.

"I'm sewing a suit for Jack," Sally said curtly. She hadn't meant to sound rude, but Shock was not phased in the least.

"Why would you want to do _that_? How boring."

"Yeah, can't he make it by himself?" Lock added. Unlike the other two, he didn't appear out of thin air, but simply walked up on the other side of Sally, his plunger clutched in his hand and his mask in the other, so that she was cornered between the three. Sensing trouble, Sally decided to wrap it up. Casually, she finished her stitch and folded the cloth up.

"I... wanted to make it for him," The rag doll said. It wasn't entirely the truth, but it was better than telling Boogie's Boys that the Pumpkin King couldn't sew, right?

"And he _let _you?" Shock said in disbelief, "Jeez, if I were him, I would've just bought it. He has a ton of money, he doesn't need some _doll_ sewing it forhim." The boys laughed in agreement, and she smirked. Sally's lips thinned, but she said nothing. She hadn't expected the trio to be suddenly nice to her, unlike Jack. It wasn't in their nature. Quickly, she grabbed her sewing machine and Jack's suit and headed towards the house Jack now shared with her. Sally had only gone a few paces, however, when suddenly a huge gush of water poured over her, soaking her to the bone. Lock, Shock, and Barrel roared with laughter behind her, and she quickly slipped into the house, her cheeks flushed violet. Jack was sitting at the couch, throwing a bone down the hallway, which Zero would then bring back for him to throw again. Without looking up (or perhaps he had, it was hard to tell, given he had no eyes), he spoke.

"Lock, Shock, and Barrel?" He asked, tossing the bone again as Sally closed the door, shivering and dripping with water. She nodded, and he sighed. Getting it up, he slipped the rib back in his ribcage and went into the bathroom. He returned with a towel in his arms, and draped it over her shaking shoulders. Zero floated over and began licking up the puddle of emerald water on the floor at Sally's feet. Jack gently twisted Sally's long hair, and another gush of water soaked the floor, passing right through Zero, who yelped and moved.

"Thank you, Jack," She said gratefully, her teeth chattering.

"You're welcome, Sally, dear," He replied.

The couple walked over to the window and looked outside. Lock, Shock, and Barrel were standing on different sides of the table, tossing what looked like a lighter between them. They continued for a minute, until Lock threw the lighter short of Barrel, and the table was almost immediately engulfed in flames. The trio jumped back in sync and hurried to their bathtub. Barrel shoved the Corpse Kid out of the way, and jumped in with his cohorts. The trick-or-treating trio then fled from the site. The Corpse Kid, however, spotted the fire and grabbed a bucket they had left behind (Sally suspected it was the one they had used on her). He then filled it with the fountain water and threw the bucket on the table. The water spilled all over, extinguishing the flames, but a billow of smoke rose up, and he, too, scurried away. The bucket, left and forgotten, rolled off the table and into the middle of the street.

Jack left her side, and, a moment later, she saw him walking towards the deserted scene. He folded the table in two and propped the bucket upright on the bench. He came back inside and leaned the folded table up against the wall.

"I'm sorry about the table, Jack," Sally apologized.

"Oh, it's alright. I didn't really use it anyway," He patted her shoulder, and then examined the table. He seemed to have deemed it un-usable, because a second later, he tossed it into the garbage.

"That was sweet of the Corpse Kid, though. Putting out the fire."

"Indeed. It's burned too badly, but I'll have to thank him when I see him."

A silence passed between them as Zero floated up to the table to sniff at it. The ghostly dog then drifted up to Sally, who rubbed behind his ears.

"I don't know what to do with them," Jack said suddenly.

"You could try getting them some guardians," Sally suggested.

"Oh, no," Jack shook his head immediately, "I suspect that might just make things worse. They're taking care of themselves just fine, anyway. No, I just wish they'd listen to me."

"Maybe they just feel like causing more trouble this week."

"Maybe... either way, they've escaped punishment too many times. They disobeyed me with Sandy Claws, and they brought Oogie back afterwards. If there was just _something_ that would at least lessen the pranks, I'd be happy."

"Don't worry yourself too much over them, Jack. After all, you only have 308 days until next Halloween, you should be planning," That was originally meant as a joke, so she was surprised when he jumped.

"Goodness! Really? Oh no, I've been slacking!" And with that, he hurried off into his study, leaving Sally, rather surprised, in the sitting room. She blinked. That was _not _the reaction she had expected. She rolled her eyes and squeezed some more water out of her hair.

"Oh, Jack, what am I going to do with you?" She smiled.

**A/N: All right, I lied. I said I wasn't going to add another chapter, but I've been in a Nightmare mood recently, and I had a few ideas for a third chapter. So... voilà! Reviews are still greatly appreciated. ^^ This was **_**supposed **_**to be the official ending, because I wasn't satisfied with the ending of the last chapter, but, unfortunately, it seems I've opened more loose ends then I've closed. So you can probably look forward to another chapter.**

**~Inferno Shock**


	4. Ice Cream Helps How?

It was hot. She'd use a better word, but that was the cold, hard truth. It was so hot, in fact, that she had a wild urge to jump into Christmas Town just to cool down, even though the place was too cheerful for her tastes. In all her years of living in the town, she had never seen the temperature rise above 78 degrees. At least, she guessed that it was around that temperature. There was no thermometer in the house – at least, that she knew of – but it always seemed cool. There was never a time before that she regretted wearing long sleeves, a thick petticoat, and stockings. And as the seconds ticked by, she became painfully aware of how thick the fabric of her favorite dress was, and the silk around her legs was becoming increasingly uncomfortable. Oh, how she wished somebody would talk. It seemed that the silence made it even hotter out, and the shade cast by her hat did little to cool her down. She didn't know that it was possible to get that hot, and she silently hoped that it would be the last time she felt it.

She stared up at the grinning sun and glared at it. It felt as though that grin was mocking her misery. If only she could throw far and hard enough to knock it out of the sky, so that the moon would take its place. Then – if her suspicions were right, and the sun was what made it so hot out – it would never be hot in Halloween Town again. In her mind, she knew but wouldn't work, but, boy, was it tempting! The seconds passed like minutes, and minutes like hours. And with each tick of the imaginary clock sitting in her mind, she despised the sun more and more. If _only _she could knock down the sun. She'd be much happier if she did. She was right on the urge of pulling her hair out of frustration, and she wasn't usually one to pull her own hair. Greatly annoyed, she propped her legs up on the opposite side of the tub, and crossed her arms stubbornly over her chest. She didn't know where they were headed, but she didn't really care anymore. She longingly thought of home, and regretted going outside. They had a fan inside. She swore to herself that, when they returned home, she would find somewhere to plug the fan in. And then, she'd get herself some ice cream. If they didn't have any, no big deal, she'd just steal some from somewhere. She frowned. Was ice cream worth going outside again? The obvious answer was "yes", but she didn't fancy going out currently. Not that she had a choice.

It was about then that she noticed they were going slower. The gravestones, varying in shape, were passing slower than she remembered. Taking off her mask, she looked towards her friend who was "driving".

"Barrel? Why are we stopping?" She demanded. He jumped and looked around.

"Oh, what? I didn't even notice," He replied, clearly having been daydreaming.

"Well, are you noticing now?" She snapped. Barrel nudged the bathtub with his foot and it sped up again.

"Touché, Shock," He grumbled under his breath, but it did not escape her hearing.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing."

"Liar."

"I didn't say anything!"

"I heard you!"

"Would you two please shut up?" The devil on her other side groaned. He was leaning on the rim of the tub with his arms obscuring his masked face, his tail curling and uncurling occasionally.

"So it lives!" Shock gasped in mock surprise, before she giggled. Lock hadn't spoken since he had woken up, which was very unusual for him. Had it been Barrel, she wouldn't have thought anything of it, but Lock was more talkative than he was.

"Sure, whatever," Lock said in a slightly muffled tone, "What are we doing today?"

"I dunno... I think I used up all my prank ideas."

"_All_ of them? Jeez, you aren't very creative, then."

"Well, what do _you_ think, Mister-High-and-Mighty?"

"'Tis too hot to think."

"Too hot to think? Ha!"

"You're not thinking anyway, big nose!"

For that, she kicked him sharply in the side. He yelped and rubbed his side. She could tell, even through his mask, that he was glaring at her, and it was strangely satisfying.

"Why don't we get Dr. Finkelstein? Jack stopped us last time," Barrel suggested.

"Nah. I can't think of anything good," Lock replied, flicking a grasshopper off the rim of the tub.

"Jack?"

"What would we do to him?" Shock asked, rolling up her sleeves in an effort to rid her self of some of the heat.

"Um..."

"Exactly," She said before he could say anything else.

"We could... glue a soul on the ground and watch people try to get it off?"

"Barrel, that is probably the oldest prank in history."

"I'm just throwing ideas out."

"Well, at least use _good_ ideas!"

"What's with you, Shock?" Lock asked suddenly, eyeing her somewhat suspiciously.

"What are you talking about?" She asked back, turning to him.

"You're being so moody!" He said, waving his hand to exaggerate his point.

"I am not!" Shock snapped, somewhat defensively.

"Yeah, you are."

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

Barrel rolled his eyes and steered the bathtub towards town, unnoticed by his bickering friends. _The oldest prank in history? _He thought, amused. _Well, that must be the oldest argument in history. _Chuckling, he guided the tub under the gates that led into Halloween Town as they rose automatically for them. He had learned that whenever Lock and Shock were arguing, no matter how headache inducing they got, it was better to keep out of it. Otherwise, they'd just get mad at you, and it'd lead to a group brawl. This was true for any of the trio, actually.

* * *

"...And the vampires had an idea that a swarm of bats should announce your arrival, but others disagreed, because it might disrupt the rest of the performance," The Mayor said, making some marks on a pad of paper he was holding.

"I'll take both into consideration," Jack assured him, "Perhaps it would be better, 'though, to use bats for another part." The politician scribbled furiously on the paper, nodding.

"And there's another problem," He said, "Boogie's gone, so we can't do the shadow on the moon."

"I'm sure we can take that part out," Seeing the Mayor's face spin to his worried side, he quickly added, "and replace it with something more doable. Is that all for today?"

"Yes. And I'll deliver these blueprints to Dr. Finkelstein at once," The Mayor replied, rolling up various papers, "Good day, Jack. And what a terrible suit you have!"

Jack beamed, "Thank you, Mayor."

"It's new?"

"Indeed."

"No doubt a result of Sally's handiwork?" The Mayor smiled.

"Yep. Well, good day, Mayor," Jack replied, walking out the door of the Mayor's home.

It was unusually warm out for winter, he could admit that, but it didn't bother him as much as it did the citizens with flesh. The door swung shut behind the two. As he and the Mayor departed at the town square, a thought occurred to him. In one smooth sprint, he appeared at the Mayor's side.

"Mayor, you wouldn't happen to know anything about... disciplining children, would you?" Jack asked. The politician gave him an odd look.

"No, I'm afraid not," He replied, "Why do you ask?"

"I was just wondering," The Pumpkin King said, somewhat disappointed. It looked like he'd have to come up with a suitable punishment for Halloween's best trick-or-treaters on his own.

"Goodness, you and Sally weren't thinking of _having_ one, were you?" The Mayor asked, his face spinning again to his unhappy face.

"Oh, no, not at all, Mayor!" Jack couldn't help it, he started to laugh, "I've just been having trouble with Lock, Shock, and Barrel lately."

"Aren't we all?" He replied darkly, before continuing his was to the Doctor's laboratory. Jack, on the other hand, walked the opposite direction, just in time to see said trio ride in to town. Well, actually, he heard Lock and Shock's raised voices arguing before he actually saw the trio. _Speak of the devil, _Jack thought.

"Hi, Jack," Barrel greeted, effectively ignoring the two behind him.

"Hello, Barrel," He greeted back. He, personally, had nothing against the trio. He just wished they were better behaved, "You three aren't up to anything, are you?"

"Nah, we can't think of anything to do," Barrel said.

Jack's head began to hurt, and he felt a trickle of sympathy towards Barrel, who must have had a major headache by now. He reached out with his skeletal hands and plucked Lock and Shock out of the bathtub. They instantly stopped arguing and transferred their glares to him.

"Can't you two get along for once?" Jack asked weakly, putting the two on the ground in front of him.

"No!" They snapped in unison, their tone daring him to disagree. Jack sighed, rubbing his temples.

"What am I going to do with you three?" He asked, more to himself than the trio. The Pumpkin King had no idea why he was interfering with something as insignificant as this, but maybe they'd be less prone to trouble if they were in a good mood. The question was, how to get them happy?

While the king was pondering, Lock and Shock had silently jumped back into the bathtub with Barrel. They preferred to be in there, at least at that moment, rather than on the ground.

"Uh... here, why don't you three go home and... Uh... play 'Hide and Go Shriek', or something, okay?" Jack said lamely, handing them a small tub of ice cream to Lock to carry. The trio stared at him for a moment in surprise. Who in their right mind would willingly give _them _some ice cream? Nonetheless, they quickly rode away, without saying "thank you", before he could change his mind.

Jack headed back home, sighing. He wasn't so sure that he wanted kids now. He didn't even know how to punish children, for goodness sakes! Instead of a punishment, he gave them ice cream! He'd have rolled his eyes, if he had any. He pushed open the gates to him home and went inside.

"Hello, Jack," Sally greeted him at the doorframe of the kitchen.

"Hello, Sally," Jack replied, sitting down at the dining table.

"Is something bothering you?" She asked kindly, sitting down next to him, putting her hands over his.

"Yeah," He nodded softly, "I don't know what I'm going to do about those three."

"Lock, Shock, and Barrel again?" The rag doll maiden smiled. He nodded.

"Whenever I try to punish them, it never works," The Pumpkin King intertwined their fingers together, "Just a few moments ago, I went over to them and ended up giving them _ice cream_!"

"You gave them the ice cream I gave you?" Sally asked, vaguely amused.

"Yeah," He said, slightly ashamed now.

"Don't worry about it, it's alright," She giggled, "And I'm sure you'll think of something eventually."

"Yeah... maybe," He interrupted himself suddenly, "if I'm lucky, that is, they'll cool off. Er... emotionally, I mean."

"Maybe. So, any ideas for your arrival?"

"Well... I do have a few," He answered, before proceeding to explain them to her, driving Lock, Shock, and Barrel out of his thoughts. She listened politely, smiling the whole time.

**A/N: All right, this chapter is kind of a filler, but I wanted to get at least one chapter done before my birthday (August 02). This is also the first chapter that we start from Lock, Shock, and Barrel's point of view. I just wanted something different. As always, reviews make me type faster!**

**~Inferno Shock**


	5. The Chase Is On

That afternoon, Jack Skellington decided to take a leisurely stroll through the town. Sure, he had learnt from past experiences that taking walks usually made things worse, but he ignored that instinct for the time being. Walks let him think, and although his last walk like this had nearly caused him to ruin Christmas, he had a bad habit of taking one anyway.

It had cooled down considerably, aided by a cool breeze. In Jack's mind, it was just the right weather to ponder things that he had no time to think of otherwise. Then again, his mind didn't seem to want to focus on one subject today. One second he would be thinking of his ragdoll back at home, another mentally admiring the comfort of his new suit, and yet another going over various problems that he was being faced with. Sometimes, a completely random thought would occur to him, and he would wonder how it got there, before it vanished once more.

Absentmindedly, his tiny feet led him towards the Witches' Shop. That was interesting, because if he wandered anywhere, it was usually to the graveyard. His feet had other plans for today, it seemed. He passed the fountain, hardly noticing the soft noise of the running water, heading for the cul-de-sac. His gait slowed as he thought of the dinner his dear Sally would be making fairly soon, and made a mental note to cut his walk short. It wasn't until he approached the door less gateway that he noticed a figure leaning against the side of the stone gateway, casually playing with what appeared to be a finger trap.

It was Shock. He dully noted how he seemed to be running into the trio recently in town, and, for one wild moment, wondered if he was being tailed. He shook the thought off. That was absurd. It wasn't her presence that he found odd, but the fact that the boys didn't seem to be at her heels today. He couldn't recall a moment where the terrible three split up for no reason like that, which immediately put him on his guard. Her mask lay at her feet, and she had no noticeable weapon on her (other than one of her pet scorpions, which hid in her shadow), but it was better safe than sorry. The skeleton turned slightly to walk over to her, but she either didn't notice or didn't care. Shock pulled her index fingers free from the trap, and, wringing her hands, she took off her witch hat and dropped it in. The scorpion took off at the sudden sunlight it was immersed in, but the young witch scooped it up, placing her hat back on her head. The arachnid crawled around on her palm, and she ran a finger over its back. As he moved closer, she casually crossed her ankle over her other foot.

With a loud _smack_, his skull found the hard, concrete ground. The shock of the impact turned his vision white for a second before he could see again. Jack rubbed his head as laughter erupted around him. Shock had broken into hysterics, but he looked to his left, rather than at her. Sure enough, Lock and Barrel were crouched behind the wall, joining their female companion in her laughter. As soon as he looked at them, however, they bolted off towards the graveyard. Shock fumbled with something at her ankle before following them, her pet clutched in her palm. The Pumpkin King grabbed his jaw and popped it back in his skull, but as he did so, his other hand grazed something on the ground. He lifted it up. It was a long strand of string that covered the distance of the gateway. He suddenly understood. The witch must have had one end tied around her ankle, while her friends held the other end. _Clever, _he thought, getting up. But he had no intention of pretending that nothing happened. He had let Lock, Shock, and Barrel off the hook for disobeying him with Sandy Claws two years before because they helped him in the end, but enough was enough. He sprinted off towards the graveyard, ignoring the fact that his jaw was slightly sore from the impact.

* * *

"Did we loose him?" Shock whispered as they hid behind the large hanging tree in the cemetery, after returning her scorpion to her hat.

"I think so," Lock answered in the same whispery tone.

"Someone should go check," Barrel suggested softly.

"Lock, go check," Shock demanded without a second's hesitation.

"What? Why _me_?" The devil snapped, spinning around to look at her.

"Just do it!" Barrel said, receiving a glare by his devil friend for taking Shock's side.

"Ugh, _fine_," Lock slowly inched around the tree and into the open, pulling off his mask. Narrowing his eyes, he scanned every inch of the graveyard he could see. Nobody. Just to be sure, he did a second scan. Everything was still, and it didn't look like there was anybody behind the tombstones. Satisfied, he put his mask back on a returned to the other side of the tree, "All clear."

The trio didn't feel like walking all the way back to their tree house quite yet (they had come to town on foot), so they took a seat in the shadows of the hanging tree's claw-like branches. The graveyard was silent, minus the breeze whistling through their hair.

"That was pretty funny, though," Barrel finally piped up.

"Yeah," Lock agreed, grinning to match his mask, "I can't believe his jaw popped off like that!"

"He never saw it coming," The emerald-haired boy grinned back.

"Jack's loosing his touch, though. It's easy to prank him now."

"Yeah."

"You boys know why, though, don't you?" Shock said, flicking a moth off of her arm.

"No. Why?" Lock and Barrel asked in unison.

"'Cause he's got a _girlfriend_," She said childishly.

Lock and Barrel stood up and walked in a circle, chanting, "Jack's got a girlfriend! Jack's got a girlfriend! Jack's got a girlfrieeeeend!"

The young witch rolled her eyes at the boys. They continued chanting for a while, but suddenly their eyes went wide, staring at something in the tree behind her, and they immediately shut up.

"What?" She asked, raising a thin eyebrow.

"Sh-Sh-Sh-Shock..." Lock stuttered.

"_What_? What is it?" She asked again, getting more and more irritated by the second. Lock opened his mouth again, but it opened and closed soundlessly, as if somebody put him on mute. Deciding that he wasn't going to be talking anytime soon, she stood up and turned around.

She instantly jumped back about a foot. The Pumpkin King himself stood on a lower branch cluster, his arms crossed. He looked down at the ex-Boogie's Boys with a reproving look on his alabaster skull. In one movement, the trio chanced a glance at one another. Then, panicking slightly, they bolted off in different directions. Barrel ran off through the gates that led to town, Shock sprinted into the old graveyard, and Lock stood bewildered for a second, before tearing off after Shock. Jack quickly weighed his options, before he entered the old graveyard himself in time to see Lock dashing towards Spiral Hill. The path was clear ahead of the fleeing devil, but there was no sign of Shock. Scratching his skull, Jack looked around. His gaze fell over the burial chamber. One or two of the many cobwebs covering the small building had been notably disturbed, and one of the doors hadn't been closed all the way. He took that as an unintentional hint and went over to it. He pulled on the open door and slipped inside. He silently maneuvered around the closed tombs (although one or two empty tombs were open because of stuck doors) and entered the round room of the burial chamber. Jack looked around, and was surprised to find that there was nobody in there except for him and the coffins lining the walls. The skeleton frowned. Had it _really _all just been to trick him into thinking Shock was hiding in there? If that was the case, and it seemed to be, he was very irked.

Trying to think of what to do instead, he scratched his head again. Then, a thought occurred to him. Quietly, he crept over to the coffin nearest to him and gave the handle a tug. It popped open, and a bat flew out, apparently having been trapped in it, but it was otherwise empty. He reached to open the next one, only to realize there was no possible way to open it. Jack made his way around the room, opening caskets to find them empty, or pulling on the handle just to find them locked. One handle he pulled on came right off in his hand, and he, embarrassed, tried to put in back to no avail. He left the room and returned to the corridor of coffins, where he continued to pull the tombs open. When he had only opened a half dozen or so when a tomb near the exit burst open, the door hitting the neighboring coffin. A violet blur rushed out of it and towards the exit. He quickly pursued it, but Shock reached the exit and slammed the doors behind her, closing him in. _No big deal,_ he thought, and tugged on one of the doors. It shook slightly, but didn't open. He tried the other door, only to get the same results. He frowned. Ignoring a slight tingle of panic deep in his bones, he hastily looked around for another escape route. Noticing a thin window, he went over to it and pushed up the glass. The window panel gave a groan of protest, and he managed to squeeze through the small window with a bit off effort. Managing to get his legs out, he fell from the window; landing unceremoniously sprawled on the dry ground. If anybody even slightly wider than him tried to use the window to escape, he'd be willing to bet that they wouldn't be able to get through, it was _that_ small.

Jack stood up and looked around. As he expected, Shock was nowhere to be found, given that she had time to completely flee the graveyard in the time it took him to get out. Even worse, he had absolutely no idea where she went. This time, she had been careful to leave him no clues whatsoever. Stepping away from the window, he glanced at the double doors leading into the chamber, and discovered why he couldn't get out. Shock had put a crowbar in the handles. Jack slid it out and placed it on the ground.

Giving up, he headed back into town. He had to admit, he was surprised and a little angry that she would lock somebody into the burial chamber like that with virtually no other way out. He paused as his non-existent ears picked up the faint sound of laughter. He peeked around the corner to an alley and saw the terrible trio huddled in close to each other, whispering rapidly. Jack stepped into the shadows and slowly walked towards them. When he was close enough, he leaned over slightly by Lock and Barrel and spoke one word.

"Boo."

The effect of that one word astonished him. Lock, Shock, and Barrel each let out a loud shriek and turned wildly towards him. Shock trod on Lock's tail in turning, and he gave out an additional yelp, quickly gripping his tail with his hands protectively. Their eyes widened in an almost comical way – except for Lock, who was busy glaring daggers at Shock, but she didn't seem to notice.

"Jack!" Shock and Barrel breathed in surprise. As if on cue, all three shared a look again, but this time Jack knew what they were thinking. Sure enough, they bolted at once to separate parts of the town. He chased them for quite a while. Sometimes he would loose them, but end up finding one of the trio soon after. They seemed to enjoy this game of cat-and-mouse, so to speak. Once in a while, he would corner one member of Boogie's Boys, and the other two would try to ambush him from behind. He was well aware that they were getting odd looks from the other citizens, but he didn't care at the moment. Jack wasn't sure why he was chasing them, but he followed his instincts and continued to pursue them until he found them all in a dead-end alley.

"Drat! Who's idea was it to go this way?" Shock demanded.

"Yours," Lock and Barrel reminded her dully, grinning. She would've punched them both, and she had her hand pulled back, ready to strike, but she spotted Jack and froze. She realized, with a small pang of horror, that the Pumpkin King had managed to corner them. He came closer until they had backed up against the wall. Now trapped, she changed tactics.

"Hiya, Jack," She said, using the best "innocent-little-girl" look she could muster. She smiled as sweet as she could, showing her gleaming teeth. Lock and Barrel quickly caught on, and sported identical smiles. (Granted, Lock looked considerably less innocent with his sharp teeth.) Jack's expression did not soften, but they kept smiling. He crossed his spindly arms over his ribcage, tapping his foot slightly.

"Why are you three being such a hassle these days?" Jack asked, although not really expecting a proper answer.

"We're bored," Barrel said.

"Yeah, and there's nobody to tell us what to do now that Oogie's gone," Shock added.

"Besides, it's really fun!" Lock added as a final note. Jack sighed.

"Can't you think of something to do that's not at others' expense?" Jack asked, slightly pleading, "The poor Mayor's terrified of you already."

"No –" Lock said.

"We –" Shock continued.

" – Can't," Barrel finished.

Jack groaned inwardly. Then... he got an idea.

"Fine. But if you keep acting up, I won't let you go into the human world to trick-or-treat next Halloween."

Lock, Shock, and Barrel looked at each other, bemused. Then, they did the exact opposite of what he expected.

They started laughing.

Not their usual little giggles, but full-out laughing. He frowned as they kept laughing like little maniacs. Finally, they cooled down enough to speak.

"Oh, that's funny, Jack!" Shock giggled, putting her hand over her chest.

"Yeah, but leave the jokes for us to tell, okay?" Lock smirked, while Barrel continued to cool down. Jack's frown deepened.

"I wasn't joking."

"Sure you weren't, Jack," Barrel piped up, patting Jack's pant leg in mock-sympathy.

"I wasn't. You three have been nothing but trouble recently, and –"

"Thank you," They chimed as one.

"Don't interrupt me, please. And don't think that you're off the hook. I only didn't punish you two years ago because you helped me in the end by getting the Mayor for me. Nevertheless, you disobeyed me more times that I can count on both hands. I have tried again and again to trust you three, but I can't do that if you constantly disobey me. So, if you act up again, you will either be staying home on Halloween, or, if it comes to it, Sally and I will adopt you," Secretly, he hoped that it wouldn't come to adoption.

The expressions on their faces mirrored those of pure rage, especially at the last comment. They were silent. Then, they all started yelling at once.

"You can't keep us here for Halloween! We're trick-or-treaters, you just can't –"

"We've always been like this, why are you –"

"You always allowed us to do pranks before, Jack –"

"Why would we want to live with you and that ugly ragdoll –"

"We can take care of ourselves –"

"We never disobeyed you –"

"You're being unreasonable –"

"Jaaack! I know you're ignoring me –"

"You're no fun, Jack –"

Soon, his head began to throb. He pulled down on the corners of his mouth with his pinky fingers and gave a vicious roar, immediately bringing silence over them.

"If you don't want either of those to happen, could you three please try not to act up too much? And no more hijacking the Mayor's hearse, okay? You could've done him serious harm."

Slightly downcast, the trio nodded.

"And no more hurting other people's feelings. You really made Sally feel bad."

They nodded robotically.

"Fingers."

Lock, Shock, and Barrel sighed in annoyance and brought their hands into view to show that they weren't crossed.

"Toes."

Lock and Shock rolled their eyes and slipped off their shoes, while Barrel had no shoes on anyway.

"Tail, Lock."

The devil groaned and flicked his tail into the open.

"Good. Now, carry on. Oh, and Shock?" Jack added.

"What?" Shock asked, pulling on her boots.

"Don't trap people in the burial chamber."

"_Fiiiine_," She said, rolling her eyes.

Jack watched the trio walk away before he turned to head home once more.

* * *

"You seem happy, Jack," Sally noted.

"Yep. I think I finally dealt with Lock, Shock, and Barrel."

"Really?" The patchwork maiden looked surprised.

"Yeah. So I hope that we won't get so many complaints about them anymore," Jack told her, running his boney fingers through her long, red hair as she sat, "But if they hurt you, emotionally or physically, please tell me, okay?"

"Of course, Jack," Sally smiled softly, despite her crude stitches.

A few minutes ticked by, and Jack nervously cleared his throat.

"Um... could I ask you something, Sally?"

"Certainly, Jack. What's on your mind?"

"Well... I know it's only been two years, but I was wondering..."

Looking anywhere but at her, he handed her a small wooden box with a thorny rose engraved on the lid. Curious, Sally gingerly opened the lid to reveal a single ring set on velvet. The ring had a gold band with tiny aquamarine jewels set into the band in a line of six or seven. Her chocolate brown eyes widened and her pupils shrank remarkably as she lifted it up with a shaking hand. It was certainly nothing loud, but that was perfectly fine by her. She'd rather have tiny jewels than a huge diamond on her finger.

"Jack..." She said breathlessly.

"I wasn't sure if you'd like it, but the jewels are lighter than they were supposed to be, so it's a unique, but... um... anyway... will you marry me?" He said that all very fast so that she hardly heard him, but she managed to get the gist.

A few agonizing moments went by, before Sally's crudely stitched face cracked into a loving smile, and she slipped the ring on, smiling at him. He smiled ear-to-ear back, before they shared an innocent hug.

**A/N: See, I love you guys. Why? Because I sacrificed my sleep for tonight to write this chapter. It's 3:30AM and I'm tired and little cranky now, but at least I updated! -eye twitches- So,**** did you like the surprise ending? Yes, this is the final chapter, but I'm considering a sequel. Tell me your thoughts on the poll on my profile page.**

**~Inferno Shock**

**EDIT 09/11: The sequel, Break A Vase, is now up!  
**


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